We are excited to welcome your children to a fun-filled year of learning and enjoyment.

In Indigo Class, your child's Teacher is Miss Ashborn

In Navy Class, your child's Teacher is Mr Worton-Geer

The Learning Support Assistants in Year Five are Miss Bennett and Mrs Collinson.

Please do not hesitate to contact us with suggestions, concerns or queries - we want your child to be happy.

During the year the children will be taking part in a number of cross-curricular topics. Some of these topics have been chosen directly from the National Curriculum Programmes of Study, others have been chosen by the children and planned with the help of their teachers. Further topics may well be developed as the year progresses in order to stimulate new interest and respond to current world and local events. We will always endeavour to ensure that each topic is enhanced by exciting activities which may include an educational visit or visitor.

The key topics/learning activities we have already decided for this year are:

World War II

Harlow: Our Local Area

Land vs animals

Ancient Egypt

Space

Extreme Earth.

History

A local history study – Looking at the design and growth of Harlow New Town linked to WW2 and what was here before.

Geography

Locational knowledge – Locate the world countries, using maps to focus on the rest of Europe, concentrating on environmental regions and key physical and human characteristics of major cities.

Place knowledge – Understand geographical similarities and differences through the study of human and physical geography of a region of the United Kingdom.

Geographical skills and fieldwork – Using maps, atlases, globes and digital mapping to locate countries. Use the eight point compass and four figure grid references. Use fieldwork to measure, observe, record and present the human and physical features in the local area.

RE

Islam – The Five Pillars of Islam and The Ka’bah and the Hajj.

Christianity – The creation story in Genesis 1 and Holy week.

Christianity in the local community and beyond.

Buddhism – Living as a Buddhist: Devotional practices and the middle way.

Computing

E-safety – How to be safe online and protect ourselves.

Programming – design an algorithm for a specific outcome. Use variables in a programme. Debug mistakes in a programme.

Handling Data – Use spreadsheets and databases to collect and record data.

Technology in our Lives – Describe what the internet is and different parts of it. Recognise and evaluate different types of information. Use appropriate search engines. Describe ways in which websites advertise their products.

Art and Design

- Line techniques with charcoal, pencils, chalk and pastels. Build an awareness of composition, scale and proportion.

- Paper Mache and mod rock planets.

- Clay animals.

- People in action drawings and printing.

Music

Know about breathing dynamics ad accuracy of pitch. Sing songs in one or two parts. Play tuned and untuned instruments. Perform in groups showing an awareness of the audience. Organise musical ideas. Analyse and compare sounds. Discuss musical elements using correct terms whenever possible.

Design Technology

Old fashioned toys, moon buggies, planets.

Developing and Planning – Develop an idea in depth. Create prototypes. Use found information to inform plans.

Working with tools, equipment and materials – Join and combine components with accuracy. Make quality products.

Evaluating – Use design criteria to make informed decisions about how to develop work. Identify strengths and weaknesses.

Languages

Greetings, family, food and drink, all about me, animals.

Speaking and Listening - Listen to and respond verbally to simple questions in Spanish. Have a short discussion on a topic with somebody. Recite a short piece of narrative.

For further information about topics, parents should ensure that they keep up to date with their child’s Home/School Book.

We will be following the appropriate Programmes of Study as outlined in National Curriculum 2014 for Reading, Writing, Maths and Science. Your child will be considered to be working at National Expectations if they have achieved each of the following Performance Indicators by the end of the year.

Reading:

Use knowledge of morphology and etymology to read aloud and understand new words

Make comparisons within and across books

Increases familiarity with a wide range of books including myths, legends and traditional stories, modern fiction, fiction from our literary heritage and books from other cultures and traditions

Check that the book makes sense to them discussing their understand and exploring the meaning of words in context

Draw inferences such as characters' feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions and justifying inferences with evidence

Summarises the main ideas within a paragraph, identifying key details that support the main ideas

Retrieves, records and presents information from non-fiction

Explain and discuss their understanding of what they have read

Provide reasoned justifications for views about a book

Writing:

Use the range of punctuation taught in Year 5 (and previous years) accurately

Recognise and use spellings for homophones (Y5 words & those from previous years)

Spell accurately words with prefixes and suffixes identified in the Year 5 curriculum

Begin to consider the audience and purpose before writing, and adapt accordingly

Proof-read for spelling and punctuation errors

Develop setting, atmosphere and character, including through dialogue

Select the appropriate form and use other similar writing as models for their own

Use effective organisational and presentational devices to structure texts

Use the correct tense consistently throughout a piece of writing

Use correct subject and verb agreement (mostly)

Begin to use expanded noun phrases to convey complicated information

Begin to use modal verbs or adverbs to indicate degrees of possibility